Abstract

Charles Dickens was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era. Oliver Twist was set in the foggy city of London narrating the story of the orphan Oliver, who starts his life in a workhouse and is then apprenticed with an undertaker. He escapes from there and travels to London where he was involved in a gang of juvenile pickpockets, which is led by the elderly criminal Fagin. Finally with the help of kind men, he found out mystery of his life and lived a happy life.

The novel reflects the bitter life of people living at the bottom of the society and exposed a lot of social problems, such as the operation of the workhouse, child labor and juvenile delinquency. These problems still have significant influence for the development of modern society.

The paper was divided into three parts besides the introduction and conclusion. The first part focuses on the background from the perspectives of economy, politics and the author’s personal experience. The second part of the paper looks into the social problems revealed as well as their causes. Last part of the paper is an analysis of the goodness in nature and progressive social significance.

Key words: Charles Dickens; Background; Social Significance

Contents

Abstract

摘  要

1. Introduction-1

2. Background-2

2.1 Background in economy-2

2.2 Background in politics-2

2.3 Author’s personal background-2

3. Negative social significance-3

3.1 Drawbacks of capitalist system-3

3.2 Extreme class differentation-3

3.3 Loss of ethics-3

4. Progressive social significance-4

4.1 Lights in darkness-4

4.2 Comparison with current situation of modern society-4

4.3 Progressive significance to the development of modern society-4

5. Conclusion-5

References-6